As you begin your lessons with your student, you will need to guide her in setting a purpose for reading, activating her prior knowledge, and selecting appropriate reading strategies. To illustrate this point, please read the following passage:

Good readers set a purpose for reading. Poor readers will often begin to read a passage right away without pausing and examining the title of a book or article, skimming through the pages to view illustrations, or reading the synopsis inside a book jacket or a summary at the top of an article. Often they'll just jump right in.

If you notice your student doing this, you will need to slow her down. By discussing the topic ahead of time, she can draw on a variety of life experiences. Help her to understand the text by:

pointing out a title or illustration,

encouraging her to flip through a book or magazine article, or skim through a website,

asking what she already knows about the topic, and

asking her to predict what the passage is about.

This process might go slowly at first. You will have to model the procedure and describe what you are doing. Follow this procedure consistently, so that the habit becomes ingrained in your student.

In this way you will help her to set a purpose for reading. She will also begin to understand that she already knows a lot about the topic before she begins to read.

A good reader is someone who thinks before, during, and after their reading experience.

This activity (click on the live link above) will help your student activate her prior knowledge before reading, sustain continued involvement while reading, and reflect back on the reading after she is done. If your student is unable to write, do the writing in the chart for her.

At first you might want to use this activity systematically. KWL helps you to understand how much your student already knows, and provides her with the chance to use her life's experiences to understand the text. The activity also helps both you and your student check up on her comprehension as she goes through the text and reflect on what she has learned after the lesson.

K stands for What IKnow
W stands for What I Want to Know
L stands for What ILearned

Using KWL

Ask your student to read the title of a passage and look at the pictures and predict what the text will be about. (Magazine articles provide plenty of images!) Ask her fill out the first column, What I Know (K).

After some discussion, ask her to fill in the second column, What I Want to Know (W). You can fill it in for her if she is unable to write. In a small group, ask the most experienced writer to fill in the KWL chart. (It is important to choose a text that is of high interest to your student, or you might hear her saying "I don't want to know anything else about this topic." If she collects stamps, you might want to choose an article about stamps from an exotic country, or if he loves to watch basketball, you might choose an article about the Boston Celtics.)

Then ask her to read the text.

Your discussion afterward will help her to identify What I Learned (L).

Tip: Practice this activity with someone in your family or a friend before trying it with your student.

30 comments:

We heard a lot about activating prior knowledge at the conference. I can see that it would be helpful. Testing out on a family member is a good hint. In my years of working with children, I had many failures of activities and recipes if I did not test them first.

Note to self:"You will need to slow your student down. By discussing the topic ahead of time, she can draw on a variety of life experiences in order to understand a text. By pointing out a title or illustration, asking your student what she already knows about a subject, and asking her to predict what the passage is about, you will help her to set a purpose for reading. She will also begin to understand that she already knows a lot about the subject!"

Very interesting, I look forward to testing out and then utilizing the KWL's with students. I like the way it organizes the thinking process and gives reading a purpose. Also good to note the importance of slowing adult learners down and help them realize they're quite knowledgeable about many topics.

interesting stuff!! one thing I do with my students is during the ice-breaking tip I ask them to tell me about their hobbies and interests!! like that, I can choose materials and texts that meet their needs

I find this to be something I do naturally when delving into a new book/article/posting so modeling this behavior will be a breeze. As I currently do this, I understand how it enriches my experience of what I’m reading. This is a simply wonderful way to help insure a rewarding experience for the student.

Online Lesson: Steps in Creating an LEA With Your Student

Click on image to view the videos

The First Well: An Online Book With Audio

This online book by Book Box shows images along with the text and offers an auditory component. This is a perfect example of a teaching tool in which the student can practice reading independently while listening to the audio and reading the words.Click here to view the video.

Websites for teaching adults

The following websites will provide you with materials to teach adults, or demonstrate techniques to help you teach adults. Interactive websites include graphic organizers and valuable ways you can help your student. Tutor techniques include videos that demonstrate important concepts.